Tricks to Make a Room Look Larger

When getting ready to sell, one of the most important preparations is staging your home to show. There are many things to consider when staging and preparing your home to appeal to the widest range of buyers (which I go into in detail in my staging post). But one of the most important parts of staging is doing everything you can to make your rooms look larger.

One of the first things buyers look for in a home is space–storage space, room for their furniture, luxurious big rooms, etc. No buyer wants to feel cramped in a house. And even if your home is full of large rooms, lots of big furniture pieces can make spaces feel tight and cluttered. Certain colors can even decrease how large a room feels, and lighting also makes a huge difference. I’ve compiled some tips to get the most space out of even the tiniest of rooms.

Paint with light colors (icy grays and blues are very effective). Light colors reflect light, whereas dark colors absorb it and make rooms feel smaller. Enhancing natural light is one of the easiest ways to make a room feel bigger, and light, bright rooms are always more inviting.

Use furniture with hidden storage like coffee tables, beds, chests, etc. That way you can minimize the number of pieces you need in a room.

Always keep pathways through rooms unblocked with furniture.

Paint your wall trim and moldings a lighter color than the walls.

Keep furniture to scale with the size of the room. Too-tall pieces will make the ceiling seem lower, and oversized couches or bookshelves will make the rest of the room seem smaller in comparison.

Make full use of all natural light resources: keep windows pristine (or replace them), use sheer fabrics for curtains, don’t block windows with furniture.

If you don’t have much natural light in a room, create a warm tone with lamps placed around the room. A well-lit room always feels larger.

Eliminate anything that doesn’t need to be there. That’s one of the first rules of staging, and for good reason. Anything taking up unnecessary room is making the room feel smaller and distracting from the features of the home itself.

One last trick–place mirrors in places to strategically reflect light. Large mirrors create an illusion of a larger room, and add all-important light to brighten the space.

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About Courtney Buie, MBA

Fully dedicated to quality customer service, I bring the marketing and business experience of 10 years in the luxury retail industry to the real estate market. I work exclusively and enthusiastically to meet the needs of clients in the community I know and love- The Woodlands.